Pence, Trump to hold dueling rallies for GOP candidates in Georgia

Former Vice President Mike Pence is set to hold a rally for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday, the eve of the Peach State’s Republican primary, to cement his break with former President Donald Trump and lay the groundwork for a possible run in the Laying the White House in 2024.

“I’m driving to the Great State of Georgia today to support my good friend @BrianKempGA
for 4 more years as Governor of the Peach State! See you later!” the previous one veep tweeted Monday morning.

As Pence appears on Kemp’s behalf at the Cobb County Airport in Kennesaw, Trump will hold a tele-rally for former Senator David Perdue to show his support despite Perdue’s fall in the polls.

According to the RealClear Politics average, Kemp has a 25 percentage point lead over his challenger, who supports Trump’s claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by voter fraud.

A Trump spokesman snapped at Pence Monday, accusing him of trying desperately to hold on to political relevance.

“Mike Pence should have lost a gubernatorial race in 2016 before he was picked up and his political career saved,” Taylor Budowich said in a statement to The New York Times.

“Now Pence is desperate to chase after his lost relevance, parachuting into races hoping someone will be on the lookout. The reality is that President Trump is already 82-3 on his endorsements and there is nothing stopping him from saving America in 2022 and beyond,” it continued.

Trump turned on Kemp after his 2020 loss to Joe Biden, accusing him of failing to overturn the state’s election results.

Pence, in turn, refused to overturn the results when Congress met on Jan. 6, 2021, declaring his intention to confirm the electoral college results, giving Biden the win — even as a mob of pro-Trump supporters on Capitol Hill stormed.

The former Indiana governor has repeatedly declined to rule himself out of the 2024 GOP nomination race, doing the same in an interview with the Times published Monday.

“We will go where we are called,” Pence told the newspaper last month ahead of a speech in Iowa, referring to prayer. “That’s how Karen and I have always approached these things.”

Pence added that as he traveled around the country after leaving office, he was surprised at the amount of support he received for failing to fulfill Trump’s Jan. 6 bid.

“I was very moved as I traveled around the country at how much people valued showing appreciation,” he said. “It humbled me a lot.”